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Ten years later still no sign of a printed directory
Despite legal obligations there is still no sign of an updated version of the directory on the horizon.
8 January 2014, 12:00am
James J. Piscopo
James J. Piscopo
1 min read
Despite legal obligations, and ten years after the last printed telephone directory, there is still no sign of an updated version of the directory on the horizon, even though the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) did not exclude such possibility.
Asked what held the Authority back from issuing a printed telephone directory in the last decade, an MCA spokesperson referred to a 2011 attempt where three bidders did not satisfy the needed requirements, after a call for expression was issued.
The spokesperson said that after this decision, the MCA commenced discussions with GO plc to provide this service, but in the meantime a third party made its interest known to publish a printed telephone directory on its own accord.
The third party was testing data received from operators but despite these developments, the third party reneged from taking a final decision in this regard.
MaltaToday has learnt that in the coming months, the Communications Authority will "consult the Universal Services Obligations and deal with the publication of the telephone directory".
Nonetheless no timeframes were given, which make the possibility of a 2014 edition seem even more distant.
The MCA spokesperson said that a survey carried out some years ago established that the majority of people were not using the printed directory.
"But in order to ensure every possible means to access such information to the entire population, in 2010 the Authority decided that the printed directory should still be considered as part of the Universal Service," she concluded.
In the absence of a printed landline directory, the majority either recurred to the 2004 edition or the online version. Overseas, most of the countries issue regular editions of printed directories despite also having online versions.
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jayden, are you saying that the yellw pages is not important? Don't you remember that the PN government had found the BWSC power statoin on the yellow pages? Remember the Minister saying it jayden?
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This the year 2014 and with the technology we have today I don't know why we do not have access to a White Pages directory over the internet. Go to www.whitepages.com and you can get and see any telephone number of anybody listed in the white pages in the USA. Names and telephone numbers in the telephone book are public so there is no reason why we cannot have those names and numbers on the internet. If you know somebody living in the USA, go to this site and go under the title Find People and all you have to do is put the first and last name and the State they live in and you can get any telephone number that is listed in a public phone book. Maybe some Maltese entrepreneur should try this system and use it.
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This is incredible.So because the number of subscribers of the fixed line telephony is declining , someone who is very wise decided that there is no more need for this directory. But for the yellow pages directory it is very much in demand according to these wise man. This is all a waste of public money. The yellow pages would be better of if it would be published let's say every 2 or 3 years , there is no need for it to be published yearly. I can see that every year when the old publication of the yelloy pages will be collected , a large ammount of them will still be with the plastic cover covered in it. So that is a clear indication that there is a big minority of the people that are not interested in it. Something has to be done so that the money is well spend.
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tarxieniz1 it is the obliagtion of the service provider to print the directory not the government. It is only because the MCA has consistently failed for the last 10 years to protect the customers that we still have a 10-year old directly.
Maureen Attard •
Why don't the Govt print one with all the rifferent numbers, Melita and Go and also Vodafone?
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You are right there,but what amaze me is that no one from the PL or from the PN side ever bother to show any interest,probably they can afford to pay for the 112 directory inquires from their free mobiles.
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The MCA has let the people down for the last ten years. When is the Minister going to order MCA to issue orders for a printed directory with suitable sized print and not havign to use a magnifying glass to read the numbers and other information? When is a change going to be made of those rnning the MCA?
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Please don't tell me that in this day and age we need to have a printed directory that becomes outdated the moment it is printed! Most of us use mobiles anyway and these don't even feature in the directory.
We first promote the use of solar panels and solar water heaters in the name of the environment and than lobby for the printing of thick paper directories.
Just keep in mind that all operators offer directory enquiry services by phone, so it is bot even a question of digital divide.
This is about politicians wanting to please everybody as usual.
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And yet we get lumped with the yellow pages year after year.
